Tabulator



Feb. 24, 1942.

W. L. COLLIER TABULATOR -Filed Feb. 19, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORWILLIAM l.

ATTORNEY COLL [ER Feb. 24, 1942. w. L. COLLIER 2,274,040

TABULATOR Filed Feb. 19, 1941 s sheets-sheet 2 i FIG 2 49 23 3 INVENTORWILLIAM l.. COLLIER AT TOR NEY Fb.24, 1942. 'N, COMER 2,274,040

TIIBULATOR A .Filed Feb. `19, 1941 SSheets-Sheet 5 INVNTOR WILLIAM L.COLLIER ATTORNEY APatented Feb. 2.4, 1942i 2,214,040 'ram'ron William L.Collier, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Remington Rand Inc., Buffalo, N. Y.,a corporation of Delaware Application February 19, 1941, Serial No.379,601'

7 Claims.

-lrey, and means on\the projectable stop to be .engaged by saidoperating member during the movement of the rack to project the .stopinto operative position just before it reaches the position of itscorresponding slide. I

The objecto the invention is to improve the Y operation of.' thetabulating mechanism of the machine whereby the speed and accuracy ofthe operation are enhanced.

Other objects and structural details of the invention will be' apparentfrom the Ifollowing dei scription when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, inwhich I Fig. 1 is a plan view of part of theapparatus;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an inverted the tabulator rack bar with several of theprojectable stops thereon; 'l

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view showing one` of the projectable stops inengagement with its corresponding' tabulator slide; j A

Fig. 5 is nan elevation of the stop supporting plate;A i

Fig. 6 isan plate;

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the supporting plate elevation oi theprojectable stop l andthe projectable stop` plate when assembled;

Fig. 8 is a semi-diagrammatic elevation of the I connection between atabulatorv key and the es-l capement rack lift-bar; v

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of theV stop operating member andcooperating parts;

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of part of the stop element;' and -,Fig. 11is an end element. y

As shown in the drawings herein, a preferred form of the invention is:illustrated in conjunction with a machinesuch as a Remington accountingmachine in' which there is provided a carriage frame Ill (Fig. 1) lonwhich a platen II is supported. inl any suitable manner.

elevation of part of the stop planvview of a portion of I In is provided.with brackets i2 at each 'end thereof, which support the usualtabulator rack lbar I 3, To the frame Ill is also pivoted an escapementrack bar I4 normally in engagement with theescapement pinion I5.

In the ordinary tabulating operation -of ma-I chines such as the oneillustrated. it is necessary to lift the escapement rack Il lfromengagement with the pinion I5 in order that the carriage may betabulated to the desired position. To lift this rack Il there isprovided a lift-plate or bar I6 (Figs. 1 and'2) disposed beneath therack I4 and mounted on the end of a lift arm Il fixed tota shaft I8journaled in a bracket I 9 fastened tothe fixed frame 20 of the machine.To the other end ofthe shaft I8- is xed an operating arm 2| to which ispivotally connected a dependent pull link 22.

The operation of this pull link 22 is well known in machines of the typeshown. In the present embodiment, the machine is shown as having apower-operated tabulator machanism although this form may be replaced bya manually operated tabulator mechanism. The form shown is similar tothat shown and described in greater detail in Patent 2,064,154, issuedDecember 15, 1936, to Dodge and Philbin, with particular reference toFigs. 2 and 21 thereof. Herein .this

construction is semi-diagrammatically shown in Fig. 8.

In Fig. 8 there is shown one of a series of manlponent 25. yEachinterponent 25 is connected to one of a plurality of pivoted arms 30which is thereby advanced to engage and move rearwardly the slide plate3| which, in turn, will rock its f corresponding tabulator lever 32. 'Itis, of course,

understood that for each key 23 there is a correspending lever 32;

At its` upper end each lever 32 is connected to a correspondingtabulator slide plate 33 which is slidably disposed within the usualhousing 34 (see Fig. 1), and is adapted to be projected theremanner asits respective key is a bail plate 35 ydisposed in the rear of all thetabulator levers 32 and that to it is fixed an arm' The frame 36connected to link 31, which, in turn, is' conas shown.

nected to one endv of an arm 38, the other end of which is fixed onshaft 33. Another arm 40, fixed on shaft 39, is connected to the lowerend of the previously mentioned pull link 22. It is obvious, therefore,that whenever any key 23 is operated. its corresponding tabulator lever32 is oscillated and serves to rock bail 35. This movement is eective,by means of the linkage previously described, to lift plate i3. Thus,the carriage is released from the escapement pinion l to permit itsmovement.

One of the novel features of this invention comprises a stop operatingmember associated with the lift plate I6. 'As shown in Figs. 1 2, and4'.' this member comprises an arm 4I. pivotally connected at one end'tothe bracket i8 and extending in a direction parallel to the rack bar I3.The free end of the arm 4| is provided with an upwardly extending camelement 42 which is disposed in front of the set of tabulator slides 33(asin Fig. 1). Intermediate its endsv the arm 4| is engaged by a liftspring 43 which extends Y rearwardly at right angles to the arm 4I andis anchored on a plate 44 (Fig. 1) which is fastened to the frame 20adjacent to the bracket I9. The front end of this plate 44 is turned upas a iiange 45 abutting the rear surface of arm 4|. This flange 45 has aslot 4B therein (Fig. 9) which receives a pin 41 on the arm 4| so thatthe upward movement of the arm 4| is limited by this slot as the-spring43 tends to lift the arm. The arm 4|' is provided with a lip 48 whichprojects under a portion of the arm il.' When the arm I1 is lowered, itpresses on-lip 48which forces arm 4I downwardly against theliftingaction 0f the spring-43. Therefore, when the arm is raised by the actionof the tabulator key 23, the downward pressure on lip 48 is removed andspring 43 is free to lift arm 4| to move the arm and the cam element 42to what is designated as a stop-operating position. As stated beforethis position is determined by the limiting effect of the slot 48 on thepin 41 on arm 4l.

sition. The engagement of the cam elements 53 and 42 will project thestop plate 50 of the stop, unit to the operative position shown in Figs.4,-

10, and 11. In this position. the nger 55 will lie against the back ofthe adjacent finger I4 of the supporting plate. The outer edge of linger55 will extend beyond the outer edge of finger 54 and the inner edge ofnger 55 will lie just inside of the top edge of finger 54 and thus bebraced as it meets and is stopped by a tabulator slide 33.

'According to Fig. 3 it will be noted that the cam elements 53 arespaced at different points on their supporting plates 58 so that theircontact with the operating cam 42 will result in their projection atdifferent predetermined times to engage predetermined tabulator slides33. In Fig. 3 the variable settings of cams 58 on their supports areindicated by dot and. dash lines, one of which is marked A and is'drawnthrough the outer edge of the stop plate 50 in its retracted position.By reason of the variability of these settings the several stop plates50 can be projected Vto engage with selected tabulator slides 33. Thesesettings diii'er by an amount equal to the distance between consecutivetabulator slides 33 which is generally a tenth of an inch.

Viewing the machine from the front, it is assumed that the tabulatorkeys, the projectable stops, and the tabulator slides are numbered 1, 2,3, 4, etc., from left to right. When key No. 1 is depressed the carriageis thereby releasedand cam 42 is raised to operative position. As stopNo. 1 comes along, the cams 42 andl58 are so related as to project stopNo. 1 just before it reaches the position of No. 1 slide 33. However, itis to be noted that the No. 1 stop is not pro- 1 jected until after ithas passed the position of 'I'he purpose oi elevating the arm 4|, aseach tabulator key is depressed, is to place the cam element '42 thereonin an upward operating position to be in line with certain cooperatingelements on each of a series of projectable tabuiator stopmembers'mounted on the rack bar i3. Since these stop members aresubstantially the same in construction, it will sumce to describe one indetail. They are shown vparticularly in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Eachstop device comprises a supporting plate 49 (Fig. 5), and a projectablestop plate (Fig. 6). These two plates are pivoted together at oney endby engagement of a pin 5| with apertured lugs 52 on the plates, A spring53 disposed between the plates tends to holdthe projectable plate in aretracted position, against the face of the tabulator rack I3, as shownin Fig. 3. The supporting plate 49 is provided withvspaced dependenttooth-sectioned legs 54 which enable this plate to be clipped in arlyposition over the rack b'ar I3, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The projectable stop plate 50 (Fig. 6) has on its outer end a dependentstop -nger 55. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, when in normal retractedposition, this finger 55 lies out of the path of any when said arm 4| israised to its operative po- 75 the No. 2 slide 33. This selectivity inthe projection of the stopsl is achieved by reason of the variability ofthe positioning of cams 58 on their respective supports. Again, assumethat key No.

6 is depressed. Then the carriage is tabulated,

the arm 4| is lifted to position cam 42 and the stop plates 50 aresuccessively projected as they passthe position of cam 42. It isevident, how- Y ever, that stop plates 2, 3, 4, and 5 are not `projecteduntil after they have passed the position of the slide 33 which is No. 6in the series of slides. Therefore-sas they pass the position of thisslide, they are in retracted position and will freely pass by. However,the sixth stop plate has its cam so determined that it will be projectedbetween the position ofthe sixth and the seventh slide so that it willbe in position to engage with and be stopped by the sixth slide 33.VThis action takes place in a sim-V ilar manner for each key. The stopplates may be as many in number as the number of tabulator keys 23provided on the machine. It is also obvious that they may be placed inany position on the rack bar i3 except that they must bein order,namely, first No. 1 stop, then 2, then 3, etc. Also it is to be notedthat since the first stop is arrested by slide No. l, the next lstopwhich is No. 2 must be placed one tooth iurther along the bar than theposition at which it is'to stop the carriage. For example, if the secondstop is to arrest the carriage at 40 on the scale, it must be set at 4|.Also, if the first stop were to be set at l0 and the next three at lilpoints apart, the second would be set at 2|, the third at 32, and thefourth at 43, since the first is arrested by the first slide, the secondby the second slide, the third by the third slide, etc., Iand theseslides are each disposed successively to the right of the first slidewhich serves as an index point.

While I have described what I believe to be a highly desirableembodiment of my invention, itY

is obvious that many changes in formy can be made without departing fromthe spirit of my invention, and, I, therefore, do not limit myself tothe exact form herein shown and described, nor

to anything less than the whole of my inven-` tion as hereinbefore setforth, and as hereinafter claimed. 1

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In amachine of the class described, a tabulator key, a tabulatorslide movable by said ulator slides selectively projected by said keys,

a movable carriage and a tabulator rack movable with said carriage; thecombination of a plurality of projectable stop elements on the rackcorresponding to said slides, an operating element movable to anoperative position upon the depression of any key, and means selectivelypositioned on each stop element to engage the operating element duringthe movement oi the carriage rto project each stop element, at apredetermined point in the travelloi the stop element, into position toengage with and be arrested by its corresponding slide.

3. In -a machine of the class described, a plurality of tabulator keys,a plurality of 'tabulator slides adapted to be individually moved to anoperative position by the-actuation of a corresponding key, a movablerack bar, a plurality of projectable stops on said bar corresponding tosaid slides, means selectively positionedV on each stop, and meansoperated by any key and engaging the selectively positionedv means onthe stops in succession as the rack bar advances, the selectivepositioning of said means on the stop adapted to cause the projection ofth'e stops only as each arrives at a position prior to that of itscorresponding slide and subsequent to that of the next preceding slide.

4.1m a machine of the class described, a tabulator slide, a depressibletabulator key connected thereto for operating said slide, a movabletabulator rack bar, a projectable stop on said rack bar, an operatingcam .device movable into* an operative position by said key, and cammeans 7 on the stop to be engaged by said operating cam -device duringthe movement of the rack bar', the

cam means on the stop beingV selectively positioned so as to projectsaid stop only when the stop reachesa position immediately prior to thatof the slide.

5. I n a machine of the class described, an escapement rack, a tabulatorkey, a rack lift bar engaging the rack and operated by the key to lift`the rack, an arm, a stop operating cam on said arm, means on the liftbar engaging the arm to hold it' in an Ainoperative position when thelift bar is in inoperative position, and a spring engagingl the arm tolift it to an operative position when the restraining iniluence of thelift bar is removed.

6. In a machine oi the class described having a movable tabulator rackbar, a stop element a position coacting mounted on said bar whichcomprises a supporting plate provided with means to clip th'e plate onto the bar, a removable stop plate pivoted to the supporting plate,means cooperating with both plates to hold the stop plate in a retractedposition, and a cam device o n the stop plate to be engaged during themovement of the bar to project the stop plate to an operative position.

'7. In a typewriting or like machine, a frame, a carriage movablerelative thereto, a plurality of`tabulator slides mounted on said framein spaced relationship along the path of movement of said carriage, keyoperable means for selectively moving each of said tabulator slides toeffective position, a plurality of stop elements corresponding to saidtabulator slides, means'for adiustably mounting each of saidstopelements on said carriage for movement to and from eective position.with `relation to said tabulator slides, operating means on said stopelements disposed at different positions thereon corresponding to thespaced relationship of said tabulator slides, and means on said frameoperable by said vkey operable means to with said operating means stopelements into eective the corresponding tabmovement of the carto moveeach o! said position as it approaches ulator slide during the riage.WILLIAM L. COLLIER.

